A tropospheric depolarization LIDAR is installed at Concordia Base (Antarctica, DOME C, 75° S 123° E). The instrument is “alive” in the frame of the national (Programma Nazionele Ricerche in Antartide) projects TAVERN (ISAC CNR) and ICE-CAMERA (IFAC CNR) . The LIDAR is mounted on an aluminium frame, inside a Shelter located 500 m from the mainbase, in the “Clean Air Area”. Double optical windows flushed with pre-heated external air makes the operation of the LIDAR in all weather conditions possible, also in the -80°C cold polar night. The LIDAR is intended to provide tropospheric profiles of aerosol and clouds every 5 minutes, 24 hours/24. The system is fully automatic. Housekeeping data and local meteo data are collected and stored together with the LIDAR data. Data are sent on a daily base to Italy for inspection. Time-lapse videos of local sky conditions are also automatically collected. Read More
